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Monday, April 27, 2015

My friend Javier who runs The Shark Tank writes about an op-ed in the liberal leaning Jewish Telegraphic Agency, written by Democratic Party Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Ms. Schultz explains her reasons why she believes Jews should cling to the Democratic party.

Ms Schultz's op-ed says in part:

Growing up, my parents taught me that tikkun olam – repairing the world – is a central tenet and one of the most important outward expressions of our faith. As Jews and as active citizens, it was our responsibility to help and advocate for others. As I grew up, I also sought to exemplify other Jewish values like tzedakah and gemilut hasadim. Like many other American Jews compelled to stand up and speak out for the causes of justice, equality and righteousness in public policy debates, I found a natural home within the Democratic Party.

It is Democrats who seek to right injustice, promote tolerance and constantly strive to move our nation toward a more perfect union. Jews overwhelmingly support women’s rights, workers’ rights, gay rights and civil rights for all Americans. We know that when we help those around us, our community and our country are stronger as a whole. We understand the importance of America as a place of new opportunities, and believe in immigration reform that will pave the path toward a better future that welcomed our ancestors when they arrived on America’s shores. These are values for which Democrats have fought and Republicans have not.

Instead of changing their positions on the issues that matter to American Jews, Republicans have chosen the dangerous strategy of politicizing Israel’s security as their strategy to win over Jewish voters. This strategy is not good for Israel or for the long-term relationship between our two great nations.

Let's put aside for a moment that it was the Democratic Party's walking away from Israel which made Israel a political football, and for the purpose of this posts let us ignore that Ms. Schultz appears on Sirrus/XM Radio's Hanukkah programming each year bragging that she celebrates Hanukkah (which is a holiday about fighting assimilation) going to her friend's house for Christmas.

As far as Jewish traditions matching one party or the other Debbie Wasserman Schultz is 100% wrong.

Republican Party principals such as limited government, individual
responsibility and traditional morals are all deeply rooted in Jewish
tradition. Even the fact that America’s founders intended for the
county to be led by people who based their political decisions on
religious values (something that scares the heck out of most liberal
Jews) complements Jewish tradition.

The creation narrative in Genesis explains that man was created in
God’s image. But we were also taught that our maker has no bodily form,
so how can that be? The Bible is not teaching us that we are all dead
ringers for ”big guy upstairs” (if that was the case the pictures on
everyone’s drivers licenses would look the same, no one would be able to
get a check cashed and CSI would be a very boring TV show).

Created in God’s image is supposed to teach us that just as God acts
as a free being without prior restraint to do right and wrong, so does
man. God performs good deeds as a matter of his own free choice, and
because we are created in his image so can man. The Rabbis teach us that
only through free choice, can man truly be in the image of God. It is
further understood that for man to have true free choice, he must not
only have inner free will but have it in an environment in which a
choice between obedience and disobedience exists. God thus created
the world such that both good and evil can operate freely; this is what
the Rabbis mean when they said, “All is in the hands of Heaven except
the fear of Heaven” (Talmud, Berachot 33b). God controls all the
options we have, but it is up to man to choose between the correct or
incorrect option, or to put it a different way, free will is the divine version of limited government. God picks the winning direction, but does not pick winners and losers.

Because we all are created in God’s image, Jews believe that ”all men are created equal,”
meaning that we all have the same ability to be infinitely good or
wicked, to be the best we can be based on the talent God gave us, and to
forge a relationship with God regardless of intellectual capability,
social background, physical strength, etc. Created equal does not mean,
as the liberals ascribe to, that when it comes to talents,
predilections, or natural abilities we are all equal. Nor does it mean
we all should have the same big screen TV, healthcare, high speed internet, ice cream
toppings, or savings account balance.

While Democratic Party politics preaches class warfare, Jewish tradition
takes a positive view of both the institution of ownership and the
accumulation of wealth. It respects economic success, so as long as it
is obtained honestly, and proper respect is shown for the social
responsibility to help others that comes with it. That social
responsibility is an individual duty and a job for the community led by
its religious leaders, but not for the government.
The book of Leviticus (25:23) says “If your brother becomes
impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall
strengthen him proselyte or resident so that he can live with you”

Notice it says live with you, it does not say live in a
government facility that's because the obligation is on the individual. In rare
times the community was called on to pick up the slack but it was never
the community government's job, it was the local Rabbi who would lead
the effort. The Hebrew word for charity tzedaka, has in it root the word
tzedek which means righteous, because Jews are taught that personally giving
charity is one of the keys to righteousness.

I once read that when God created the world sparks of his holiness
were spread across the earth. Every time that a person makes the choice
of performing a righteous act one of those sparks is purified and sent
back to heaven, through that process we become closer to God.

Liberal Democratic Party government takes away that choice. It
assumes that left to our own devices, we will do the wrong thing (or at
least what they contend is the wrong thing). Democratic Party big government takes over the
role of God, and steps in to control our decisions. Liberalism is
anti-Jewish because takes away our personal choice and gives it to the
government. That lack of choice retards our spiritual development and
most importantly, the opportunity to get closer to our maker.

The Democratic Party teaches that we must always rely on others for a solution. Again not a Jewish teaching.

Judaism also teaches us that we cannot rely on God to bail us out all
of the time, the responsibility to take action falls upon each and every
one of us. The Rabbis tell us a story about Moses splitting the Reed
Sea which illustrates that lesson (Red Sea was a typo made when the
Torah was translated into Greek). In Exodus Chapter 14-15 Moses sees the
Pharaoh’s troops bearing down on the Israelite nation who are trapped
against the sea. Moses starts praying to God, but God says stop praying
and do something! And the Lord said unto Moses,‘Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." Yet
when Moses lifted his staff the water did not part. The Egyptians were
closing in but the sea wasn’t moving. The Israelites stood on the banks
of the sea, frozen like a deer in a chariot's headlights, until a man
named Nachshon took the responsibility upon himself to act. Nachshon
decided to walk into the water. He waded up to his ankles…his knees…his
waist… his shoulders, and just as the water was about to reach is
nostrils the water parted. It is one thing to have faith and believe God
will eventually help us, but we cannot get that help until we take
personal responsibility and act on our own.

Sometimes that help does not come in big miracles like the splitting
of the sea, but it comes simply, as in the success of one’s endeavors.
In June 1967 Israel sent its air force to take out the Egyptian planes
just a few hours before they were to be sent to attack the Jewish State,
then they prayed for success.

On the other hand the Democratic Party preaches
that the government will always bear the responsibility of protecting
us; there is no individual responsibility just the collective bailout.
Instead of each one of us assuming a personal responsibility and using
our good deeds to gain closeness to God, we become part of an overall
group with no responsibility. That's why the progressives like to label
people, we are not Americans, we are Black, Latino or Jew. It's just easier to control people that way.

Liberal Democratic Party Jews get very worried when they hear a political leader talk
about God. If the political leader is a Christian (as most of them are
in the US) they see the person as some sort of zealot who will
eventually force everyone to become Christian. If the person is a Jew,
they get angry the Jew is wearing their religion on his sleeve.

In the Torah it is God who sets up the first Jewish government, he
chose to have a political/ government leader: Moses, and as religious
leader Moses' brother Aaron. Even though Moses was the governmental leader,
the Torah tells us that Moses used God’s law and morality to make his
“political” decisions. In that first Hebrew government set up by God
there was no wall separating church and state but the jobs were kept
separate. They were separate not to protect government from religion but to protect religion
from government. Political leaders were expected to consult with God’s
law in making their decisions. Since that was fine for the first
government set up by God, it should be acceptable for a government set
up by man.

The founding fathers of America agreed. They guaranteed us freedom of
religion that means that the Government cannot stop Jews from practicing
the rituals and prayers of our faith, but it did not call for a
separation of Church and State. In his farewell address, Washington said:

Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political
prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain
would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to
subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of
the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the
pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not
trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it
simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for
life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are
the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with
caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without
religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined
education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both
forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of
religious principle.

The Jewish picture of God is of a creator who instilled in us a personal
responsibility to do the right thing and provided us with the choice to
accept that responsibility or not. That's Just like the tea party.
There is no room in Jewish law for a government that forces people to
follow their interpretation of the right thing. There is also little
room for a Government that does not include religion and morality in
their consideration set before they make decisions.

Sorry Ms. Schultz, It is the traditional Republican Party values that best matches Jewish tradition. When it
comes right down to it tradition tells us those principals such as
limited government, individual responsibility, and traditional family values
are all Jewish principals.

11 comments:

I changed to Republican. The Democrat party has lost it's way. Family values, human rights, and citizen rights seem to match the Republican party now. I want my country back, I am tired of lies, half truths, and illegal immigration into my Country. I want a strong military that prevents terrorist attacks.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) is a prime example of a self-loathing Jew. She hasn't been to Temple in years, if ever, yet cites all the right issues of Judaism in a pathetic attempt to sway the Jewish vote for a political ideology that has not place for Jews...except the cash in on Jewish contributions to their cause. How does her Fuhrer, 0bama, do anything for Israel or American Jews? Quite the contrary. Democrats HATE Jews, but love their money, even though there are more poor Jews, than wealthy ones! But, the Liberal Socialist stereotype of the "Rich Jew" is alive and well with the Democrats and Ms. Wasserman-Schultz!

First, let me say for the record that I am NOT a Republican. That being said, what is DWS talking about? She says, "It is Democrats who seek to right injustice, promote tolerance and constantly strive to move our nation toward a more perfect union." Oh really? I guess that's true if you believe that redefining Marriage is righting an injustice. Or pushing for Israel to give up its sovereignty and allowing Iran to have a nuke is promoting tolerance. Or moving this country under greater influence to evil and Satan is moving toward a more perfect union.

When she says, "Jews overwhelmingly support women’s rights, workers’ rights, gay rights and civil rights for all Americans", what Jews would she be referring to? Those who worship at the Golden Calf? Those who define those terms by God's Standard or their own? Those who screamed at the top of their lungs to throw God out of the Democratic Party Platform during their Convention in FL?The Jews were a chosen people, and the apple of God's eye, with the purpose of pointing people to the One True God. DWS and the Democratic Party are not pointing people to God. Rather they are pushing people away from God. They mirror the crowd who screamed, "Crucify Him! And let his blood be on us and our children."That is the Jew that DWS appeals to.

DWS - is a liar just like most others of the DNC - if you still want to believe otherwise ...

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the Truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.(1 John 1:5-7)

The DNC denied God 3 times - and yet you claim to be a Christian (or Jew - salvation is of the Jews - John 4:22) did you not hear a cock crow 3 times (Matthew 26:69-75)?